Optically active organic molecules have important utility, especially as pharmaceutically active compounds and as intermediates for the synthesis of very complex organic molecules. As such, the development of synthetic methodologies that allow organic chemists to make optically active compounds in a planned manner are of great importance.
Alkylation reactions and cycloaddition reactions are two of the most fundamental, important, and commonly used methods for synthesizing complex organic molecules. The ability to carry out these types of reactions with a high degree of stereoselective control allows the synthetic chemist access to optically active compounds of increasing complexity.
Although methods have been reported in the art that allow some degree of stereochemical control over various alkylation and cycloaddition reactions, they have presented several problems, including high cost, toxicity, difficulty of preparation, the need to immediately use an intermediate upon its synthesis, and difficulty of separation and purification of the reaction products.
Thus, there remains a need in the art for organic compounds that are useful for stereoselective synthesis.